Forum allows LTC facilities to face ethical issues together

To respond to other facilities' requests for support in dealing with ethical issues in long-term care, Bon Secours Hospital-Villa Maria Nursing Center, North Miami, FL, established and sponsors the Interfacility Ethics Study Group for Long Term Care. The group grew out of the facility's Human Values Committee, which serves as the facility's ethics committee. A general mailing to administrators of area long-term care facilities produced the majority of active group participants, which primarily include administrators, nurses, admissions officers, and social workers. The study group meets bimonthly to discuss such topics as treatment decision making for incompetent residents, documentation of treatment decision making in a long-term care context, artificial nutrition and hydration, ethical issues in coma care, the potential impact of AIDS on long-term care facilities, and ethical issues in the use of chemical and physical restraints. Membership is free, thus providing long-term care facilities with a forum that they probably could not afford otherwise and that demonstrates their commitment to excellence in the delivery of long-term care services.